Boston Computer Society - Sinclair Timex User Group Newsletter

OOOO The Boston Computer Society

SINCLAIR-TIMEX USER GROUP NEWSLETTER

Volume 2, Issue 11

November 1982

MAINTAINING A
TAPE LIBRARY
By Al Spencer

Here are some hints for the
storage of computer programs and
data. With the preper equipment
and procedures tapes can be a
reliable and inexpensive storage
medium.

THE BASICS

Above all else, use a recorder
with an index counter. Unless
you can fast forward or rewind
to the particular program or
data of interest, you can’t
conveniently store more than one
or two programs per tape. Get a
tape recorder head cleaning kit
consisting of a cleaning
solution, a head lubricant
solution and lint free swabs.
Also get a tape head
demagnitizer.

Dust is one of the worst enemies
of tapes and recorders, you
should get proper dust tight
cases for groups of cassettes
(which should, in turn, be
stored in their individual
Plastic cases)? and dust covers
for the recorders. Tf you plan
to reuse any tapes buy a bulk
tape eraser, and erase any
previously used tapes before re-
using then.

ON THE LEVEL

Even if the recorder has an
automatic level control (ALC).
it should have a recording
volume indicator of some sort.
A meter is preferable, but ever
a "winking" LED will indicate
whether the cable plugs are

TAPE HINTS cage 4

NOVEMBER GROUP MEETING

Wednesday, November 16. 1992
7200 p.m.

Large Science Auditorium
UMass, Harbor Campus
(Directions on page 2)

October Meeting
Highlights
by Susan C.7T. Mahoney

Gn Saturday October 22 we
celebrated our second
anniversary with a gala
selebration at the Boston Fark
Plaza Hotel.

It really kept on growing until
the day of the show with over 22
axhibitors and twenty different
seminars. We had
representatives from San
Francisco, California to London.
England and from Atlanta,
Georgia to Toronto, Ontaric.

Our ‘celebration truly was a
natianal/international event!

Attendance is hard to really
say, but in the morning there
was barely room to walk - there
was probably around 800 people
who actually came to our
celebration.

There were so many people wha
contributed to the success of
the celebration. Let me take
this opportinity to thank a few
of them.

t would like to thank Dan Rosas,
V.P. from Timex and Magay
Bruzelius, Exec. V.P. from
Sinclair for attending and
speaking, it really made a
difference having their support.

HIGHLIGHTS page 7

|

L1co06UREDP

This issue marks the debut of a
new managing editor of the
publication. Cliff Dania@leon, who
has led the newsletter through its
formation and growth, has decided
to step down to devote more time
to other projects (computer and
otherwise). Fortunatley for us he
has consented to continue
contributing articles sco we still
have him to kick around a little.

In the year I’ve been with this
newsletter, I’ve s@en that Cliff
and John Kemeny have crafted a
concise, respected, and well-read
journal. I take over their jab
with not a little hesitation.
It’s quite an act to follow. But
it’s an act I*11 follow with the
help of people like Cliff and al}!
of our readers. We continue to
encourage the group’s members to
get very involved in creating this
newsletter. That is what has made
it as good as it is and will help
it to get even better.

Sur new “look” is mostly the
result of changes in our method of
production (paste-up, typesetting,
etc.) that will allow us to create
an @ven more attractive and
informative publications than
we've had in the past. It makes
it easier for us to include photos
and diagrams, program listings,
and much more. It’1l be a little
rough for the next few months
while we get the Sugs out but Tf
think you’11 appreciate the
evolution.

A final note:

Q. Why does a computer hacker have
a hard time remembering the
difference between Halloween and
Christmas?

A. Because Oct(al> Ti = Dectimal)

25.

— S641

The Sinclair Timex User Group

Sue Mahoney
Director

c/o BCS Office
or 203-755-2499

dack Hodgson
Publisher /Editor
P.d. Box S52&
Cambridge, MA 02238
617-354-7899

John Kemeny

User Group Correspondent
284 Great Road, Apt. DS
Acton, MA 01720

Beth Elliot

Group Librarian

c/o Sinclair Research
SO Staniford Street
Boston, MA 02114
617-742-4826

Allan Cohen zs —
Meeting Coordinator
617-961-3453

DIRECTIONS TO MEETING: The S-T
User Group meets in the Large
Science Auditiorium (Room 8/2/
009) of the University of
Massachusetts, Boston Harbor
Campus. I[t is located only 3
miles from downtown Boston and
easily accessible by public and
private transportation. From
the north or west, take the
Southeast Expressway to Exit 17.
Turn left onto Columbia Road.
Follow construction signs te get
to Morrissey Boulevard in the
direction of UMASS and the
Kennedy Library. Bear right on
traffic island, get in the right
two lanes, following UMass/
Boston signs. Turn left at the
light into Campus. From the
south, take Morrissey Boulevard
northward to the campus. On the
MBTA, take the Red Line (Ashmont
Train) to Columbia Station.
Transfer to the free University
shuttlebus in the T parking lot.

a ee

HIGHLIGHTS

Algo thanks to the three
national computer specialists
from Timex Computer Corp. Linda
Dell’Orto, Western Region, Kathy
Fitzgerald, Southeast Region,
and Dan Kopp, Northeast Region
who demonstrated the TS2068 and
its cartridge software.

Thanks to Greg Coffin, Ph.D.,
Director of the Urban Schools
Collaborative at Northeastern
University, for lining up a
whole day’s worth of educational
seminars and demonstrations with
the expertise of his staff
members Maria Trozzi and Thomas
Clark as well as Donald Duncan,
an instructor at Milton Academy
and Judy Field, teacher at
Timilty Middle Schaol in Boston.

These people gave us real tive
demonstrations using the TS1500
im the classroom with students
from the Boston Public Schools
as well as some discussions and
demos of videotape computer
instruction.

Let ma thank all the exhibitors
that participated and mention
four that joined us too late to
be mentioned in last month’s
issue: Cambridge Computer
Consortium, Cambridge, MA; Down
East Computers, Gre@nville, NCs
SiriusWare, Lexington, MA; and
Verada 214, Providence, RI.
Also not mentioned in last issue
were three presentors: Brint
Jeffries, Paul McGarry, and
Peter Nichols.

Tt took the help of a great meny
people from our group to mount
this celebration. To all of them
TI extend my sincerest gratitude,
but @specially to: Will Stackman
who co-ordinated the Exhibition
areas Jack Hodgson who
supervised the celebration’s
Promotion and watched over the

HIGHLIGHTS page 7

NEW IMPROVED
ROM BuGs——
TSi1500 BUG #1
by John Kemeny

Here we go again. No sooner has
Timex introduced their TS1500,
with the new improved ROM that
corrects the mistakes of the
T81000 ROM, than new bugs
appear. It is a common
occurance in computer
programming that fixing one bug
causes another. Unfortunately,
when you put the programs on a
ROM, there’s not much to do
about it. This bug will affect
people who use the area above
RAMTOP to save data between
LOADS.

Specifically, the bug,
discovered by Dave Wood, occurs
when a LOAD command aborts. In
the TS81000 ROM, if a LOAD
aborts, a jump is made to the
initialization routine at O3ESh,
which is part of NEW. This
routine resets the machine stack
which is just below RAMTOF.

The TS1500 ROM jumps to an
address which is actually in the
middle of an instruction! The
problem is that address 0342h
has been changed E5h to E3h
instead of E2h.

This bug causes unpredictabie
results upon LOAD failure. Even
if the system doesnt crash, the
stack may be reset above or
below RAMTOP. So if a LOAD
fails, you may corrupt the stuff
above RAMTOP.

We should point out that this
bug is not such a problem if you
don*t have stuf# above RAMTOF.
Then it is just an inconvenience
making you pull the plug and
perhap re-reset RAMTOP. Let’s
just hope that the LOADS on the
TS21500 are MUCH more reliable
than on the TS1000,

1 een

TAPE HINTS

connected properly. A volume
indicator is algo helpful if you
plan to use tapes from different
sources. This reduces the
amount of trial and error in
setting the playback volume.

A recorder without ALC gives the
user complete control over the
recording process but leaves
them the full responsibility of
volume setting. However, for
computer applications, this is a
preferable situation, since the
signal volume, once set, is
constant. A very important
thing to remember is that once
the tape is rolling (either in
record or play) it is too late
to change the volume, because it
will cause noise (these controls
are “scratchy"). A better
technique is to dry run first,
just to set the volume.

Most of us assume that the most
expensive tape has the best
quality or that leaderless tape
is preferable. The truth is
that leaders prevent breakage,
stretching and twisting at the
end of fast forwards and
rewinds. As for price, don’t
forget, you can easily spend
more for tapes in one year than
you, did far the computer
itself. My advice is always run
the tape to "10" on the counter
to bypass the leader when saving
data. What length should you
buy? Avoid long play tapes,
those with designations of
greater than C40. The long play
tapes are made of thinner tape.
They stretch, are too fragile to
survive mid-tape start-stops,
and are subject to more "print
through" from adjacent layers.
Any tape with a designation less
than C40 simply has a lesser
amount of the C40 thickness tape
wound ente it.

HOW TO WRITE RIGHT

Since the contents of any given
tape will probably change many
times, it is best not to
identify the contents on the
tape’s box or paper label, doing
that impies either overlaying
the label with more stick-on
labels (’*til the layer gets too
thick)? or writing on the label
wioth a pencil then erasing it
later and fouling up the works
with @raser crumbs! Better you
should identify each tape with a
Permanent serial number (0000,
0001, 0002, etc.) and keep track
of the contents elsewhere, iike
in a notebook or card catalog.

One capy of anything is as good
as none! Two copies on one tape
are better than one copy but not
by much. One extra copy on a
separate cassette is even better
but, to preserve sanity, make
two copies each on separate
cassettes, of anything that
would take mora than 30 minutes
to enter.

Use AC power, not batteries. If
the AC power adapters cause too
much noise, replace or return
the recorder. The cost of the
effects of weakening batteries
can far exceed the cost of
adapters and recorders combined.

Use only one side of a tape.
This reduces tha amount of high-
speed fast-forwarding to the far
and. Never remove a tape from
the recorder unless it has been
rewound completely. When
inserting a cassette, always
wiggle it back and forth to set
and center it.

Always press STOP on the
recorder before switching

TAPE HINTS page 7

es Pe ee

THREE SOFTWARE
REVIEWS
by Will Stackman

ZX PRO/FILE from Thomas B. Woods
Software (27X81, TSi000, 14K)

This is a versatile text and
information filing system. It
will store random length files
from 1 to over 10,000
characters. It displays 12
lines of 28 characters at a time
and can be used with either the
Timex printer or a Centronics
interface. It can search very
quickly for one or two "words"
anywhere in the file. The files
can be sorted by code number if
it is the final element in the
File unit.

Pro/File has extensive
documentation and instructions
complete listing for BASIC and
machine code, plus a short
course in data handling and
machine language.

I de have a couple of minor
quibbles with the program. The
documentation is so extensive
that it really ought to have an
index (there are instructions
for using Pro/File te prepare
one). The program uses a 28
character line length and this
takes a little getting used to
and it doesn’t allow you to
insert info inte the middle of a
file unit without retyping all
the data which follows. Also,
it takes at least six minutes to
load but it’s comparable with
FASTLOAD which can reduce time
to less than a minute and a
half. On the positive side:
although the 59 page instruction
book is occasionally somewhat
idiosyncratic, it contains very
little "computerese" and it
openly discusses modifications
to the program.

The author is providing a
quarterly newsletter for $9.95

per year which will cover
updates and further
modifications. I highly
recomend Fro/File.

CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS
from Timex

The concept of "Critical Path
Analysis" is a business utility
from Pert-CPM that is useful in
simulating complex projects
where sequencing of subtasks is
important. The Timex version
can be run from minimal
documentation provided, but you
have ta know how to use the
method to understand the
results.

The program has some major
shartcomings. It doesn’t allow
manipulation of the model once
the paths have been calculated.
All data must be re-entered to
try variations. Completed
models cannot be saved,. although
the results can be copied to the
TS printer. Alse all inputs and
results are numeric, no labels
or scales can be used, you must
Prepare and keep track of tasks
yourself. Overall, I'd say this
program is adequate for special
use it is not for the
unprepared.

THE FANTASTIC MUSIC MACHINE
from Simulusion (2K or more)

The ZX61/TS1000 has a voice (as
do most processing systems).
This program lets you use it.
You can listen by turning up
your TV*s sound but you will
hear static. Connect the MIC
output on your computer to the
monitor circuit of a tape
recorder and you will get a loud
adjustable sound. You can also
buy a small amp from Radio Shack
te do the same thing.

Using The Fantastic Music
Machine, the top three rows of

REVIEWS Page 7

6 EE See

THE CHESS &XHIBIT

by John Kemeny

Chess is a challenging game, and
@ number of people at the recent
TS Celebration enjoyed the
challenge of taking on the
T$1500 and 2068 computers in a
match. Computer chess can be
made to run at various levels,
with the higher levels taking
more time for each move and
therefore playing better chess.
All the games at the show were
Played at the lowest level, so
that the computer’s responses
were almost instantaneous.
Nevertheless, the machines won
aver half the games.

The T81500 was programmed to
Play SUPERCHESS. Linda Moran,
from the Capitol Area Timex/
Sinclair Users Group (CATS) beat
SUPERCHESS (with some help from
bystanders) in an exciting game.
Later Fredrick Z. Gregorian,
who works at Intercomputer Inc.,
is arated player and Plays at

the Norseround Chess Club, tamed
SUPERCHESS Level 0 in just 12
moves (see game).

The TS2068 played Softsync’s new
chess program. It has high
resolution pictographs of the
Pieces and color. We understand
that a talking version, just
using the 2068 (no attachments! ?
is also in the works.

We'd like to thank Jules Gesang
from CATS, Mike Coughlin, Cliff
Danielson, and Dave Miller for
leaning squipment and software.
We'd also like to thank Roy
Glasser, Linda Moran, Yossi
Chodin and Susan Sealy for
helping man the exhibit.

And finally we'd like to thank
Peter Kuhl and the Boylston
Chess Club for loaning us a
large-demo board which added
much to the exhibit and Peter
for his comments on the game
below.

QUEEN? S GAMBIT OFENING

Gregorian Superchess
white black
1.D2-D4 D7-DS
2.02-C4 BB-C47!
3.B1i-Cz DS«C4
4.E2-E4?
3.G1-F3 C8-E477
6.D4-D5 Eé-G4
7.F1xC4?7

Cé-ES
8.D1-A4ch ES-Cé
9.DSxC& G4xF I?
10. CéxB7ch! C7-Cé
11.A4xCéch DE-D7

12. B74 AGmate

Analysis by Peter Kuhl
Boylston Chess Club

(Not best according to opening theory
G8-Fé is more correct?

(E2-ES is better protecting the D
Pawn and winning back black’s C4 pawn)
(A blunder. Allows white’s next move)

(Why allow black to save his piece?
DSxE6 is clearly called for)

(Why give up the piece? G4-D7! offers
the most resistance)

(Black is in dire trouble because of
the pin on his king. The bishop on G4
should be saved for defense at D7 or
HS)

(This is the tima to resign!)

(F6-D7 prolongs the agony)

a ea “7

HIGHLIGHTS

money; Beth Elliot for co-
ordinating the volunteers; Jeff
Parker who was a great halip with
Promotion, Bob Masters for his
help organizing and being a
Presentor; John Kemeny who
conceived and supervised the
chess exhibit; Bob Heath and the
MC sub group for their
fascinating exhibit; Judy
Richland who provided graphic
arts assistance; Allan Cohen for
making many of the calebration’s
signs; Cliff Danielson for
Providing the support of the
newsletter; Kathi Kuehn and the
BCS staff; Rosemary Fortin who
cpened her home to me to stay
when I was in Boston; Sinclair
Research Ltd. for their support,
financial and otherwise; and
finally but perhaps most
important, Reston Publishing who
Provided invaluable supports
without which the celebration
Gouldn’t have taken place.

We had a very successful
anniversary. I would like tc
thank all the individuals who
Qave their time to make it a
success and I would like to
encourage even greater
participation by more of our
members in the future.

TAPE HINTS

directions from forward to
reverse or vice-versa, otherwise
you may stretch the tape.

Always leave at least 10
of space between files b
the tape index counter is
affected by "tightness" of the
winding of the tape on the take-
up reel.

conds
se

Overall, by using a little
common sense and basic
maintenance you can reliably
take advantage of this
economical and simple mass
storage medium.

TS1i000 BUG #5
DIVIsIom
by John Kemeny

Internally the computer stores
numbers as normalized binary
floating point fractions. Tn
order to maintain accuracy in
division, the computer
calculates two extra bits for a
quotient. A bug at 1BDOh caused
the second excess bit to always
be reset to zero. This bug has
been corrected in the T81500
ROM.

REVIEWS

the keyboard 1-8, Q-I1, A-K
become three octaves of notes,
9, 0 and L become rests. The
10th key in each line become
melodic end markers. All notes
sound as long as the key is
depressed. This duration is
recorded by the program. To
sharp or flat a note use Shift,
which rases the pitch by half a
tone.

2K of memory stores 400 notes.
The bottom line of keys lets you
edit this composition. Each
note is numbered, you can step
through a composition and change
any note. Compositions can be
Saved, erased, played
continuously between end
markers. Tempo, tone and attack
can be modified during playback.

With 14K expansion, over 7000
notes can be stored, since each
takes up merely one byte poked
to a location.

The screen reacts like it does
during save and ioad so this
technique will not produce a
musical score for your favorite
game or even an entry beep. All
scoring must be done by hand and
there is only one voice. Yet
the possibilities are
fascinating.

*** ZX PRO/FILE ***
a 16K+ file manager for the Timex

ZX PRO/FILE is a machine language data base
that gives you tremendous versatility:

*instant access to any file stored in memory
*files of any size in the same program run
*single or multiple word search capabilities
*ordered file displays

*comprehensive programmable printer functions

A 59 page manual comes with the cassette. In it
are complete instructions, examples, directions
for upgrading to larger memories, modifications,
program listings, and a detailed explanation of
how the program works. There's even an intro-
duction to machine coding for beginners.

ZX PRO/FILE is the best file manager you can
get for your Timex. In fact, users report that it
provides data handling functions found only on
the most sophisticated systems.

Price: just $16.95

Let me send you full specifications. Write to:

Thomas B. Woods
P.O. Box 64, Jefferson, NH 03583

Phone: (603) 586-7734

Isn’t it about time
ex-Sinclair Grew up?
ve up to ONE MEGABYTE!

Me can grow op. To « rest
‘omeuting with og

Expansion
Systems

number NOW a
800-833-8400

(716) 874-6510
free catalog

BASICare Is available ieee pernTE = HLECTRONICS Inc.
1585 Kenmore Ave., Buttaio, New York 14217
Please CALL, WRITE or circle reader service number
Dealer and educational enquiries welcome.

Hi The Boston.
Computer Society

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Boston, MA 02108
617-367-8080